What if?
I’m writing this letter to make sure all your readers know that Kamala Harris’ husband is Jewish. Should Joe Biden decide to be president for only one term, and Kamala is elected president in 2024, at long last there will be someone of the Jewish faith in the White House!
Good wishes to Chronicle’s new owners
When The Jewish Chronicle announced this past week that Steve Rose had donated the paper to the Jewish Federation, I was really not surprised. Federation ownership of Jewish newspapers is a norm in many communities. I believe I actually have the gravitas to comment.
Does Trump embody Jewish values?
For someone who is no longer a part of our community, Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg has been given a lot of space in The Chronicle. This letter is in response to his letter (“Rabbis for Trump”) in The Chronicle’s Aug. 20 issue.
By Gilad Katz
Consul General of Israel
to the Southwest
Our lives and the lives of every person on this planet have continued to be affected, directly and indirectly, for the past few months by COVID-19. Our basic sense of security, stability, and normalization have been interrupted and uprooted. No, I am not a physician, nor am I an expert in public health. All I have are my personal values, beliefs, and thoughts that have helped to shape my perception surrounding these difficult times. Allow me to share some of those with you, now.
Special to The
Chronicle
An urban executive with very little Jewish education started studying with a rabbi. He had been encouraged by one of his peers to give it a try. Torah study soon became a high point in his week. This encounter with his heritage boosted his Jewish self-esteem and gave him fodder to discuss with his family now that they started dining together on Friday nights. One thing that bothered him, however, was when the rabbi referred to their sessions as “learning together.” The executive called the rabbi on this one day: “We’re not learning together, rabbi. You are teaching me. Why not call a spade a spade?” “No, quite the opposite,” said the rabbi. “I learn from your world of experience and you learn from mine.” “What?” the executive replied, “Don’t patronize me! I barely went to Hebrew school and you are a well-trained rabbi.” The rabbi thought for a moment and responded: “Imagine you are racing Michael Phelps in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Who would win?” “Well, of course Phelps would destroy me.” said the executive. The rabbi stated, “Now picture the two of you dropped in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Who would win in a race back to L.A.? You see, we’re both in the middle of the Pacific, you and me. In the vast world of God’s Torah, the deepest ocean in the universe, we’re even.”
I no longer recognize my country
In The Chronicle a few weeks back, Helene Lotman, asked ‘Whatever happened to humility?’ She did a superb job. But other words too have disappeared. Words that once had real meaning. Honor. Respect. Duty. Civility. Dignity. Chastity. Courtesy. Manners. Decency. Sportsmanship. Integrity. These, and others like them, are now consigned to the obscurity of dictionaries. I can no longer recognize my country.
Your vote for education
Each of us has both personal memories and stories told to us by relatives about our family. These tales go back one or even several generations covering the lives lived in America or the “old country.” The old country being somewhere in Eastern Europe, Russia or the Mediterranean Jewish communities.
Rabbi Steinsaltz, who passed away Aug. 7 in Jerusalem at the age of 83, was a rabbi in the most authentic meaning of the word: he was an educator. And the world was Rabbi Steinsaltz’s student body. He spent decades teaching, writing, publishing, lecturing, mentoring and organizing, and all of this work was focused on bringing Jews closer to Judaism and Jewish sources.
Adam didn’t get it:
Inspiration from Rabbi Zevi Wineberg’s maamar class
The miracle of existence – the profound struggle to find our collective and individual purpose for existence. Adam was given everything in Gan Eden and therefore lacked appreciation, until it was taken away. G-d, through Eve, coerced Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit – a lesson about choices in life that G-d allows us. We’re not given everything as in order to make “good” choices, one has to “learn” awareness, appreciation and gratitude for all we do have. Perhaps the existence of evil and our struggle in life, as well as our God-given ability to make choices is for the essential purpose to ultimately convince each of us to be grateful ¬– to appreciate the amazing miracle of existence brought forth by God. Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
